Summary: After the events of "There's A First Time For Everything",
Munch gets anxious and pushes his partner away.

The Morning After

Captain Creighen, of the NYPD's Special Victims Unit, looked out across the
bullpen. He mentally took attendance. Elliot and Olivia were there. Monique
Jeffries was in court this morning. Which left John Munch and Brian Cassidy.
Neither of whom was present, and neither of whom had called to say where exactly
they were. Great. Two of his best detectives were AWOL. Just what he needed. He
went back in to his office and slammed the door.

The missing detectives, meanwhile, were getting dressed after having just had
mind-blowing sex. At least, Munch felt as if his mind had been blown, along with
other parts of his body. He'd just had sex with his partner. His very male, very
much younger partner. Okay, it wasn't as if he'd never had sex with a guy
before. When he was in college it seemed to be the 'done' thing to swing both
ways. But that had been a long time ago. Before his father had died and Munch
had made the decision to become a cop. And none of that changed the fact that 1)
Brian was his partner and 2) Brian was a lot younger than he was.

Said younger partner came up behind him and put his arms around him. Brian
kissed his neck. "Why so serious this morning?" he asked.

"Nothing," John answered.

"Well, lighten up. You were fantastic, by the way."

John couldn't believe that he was blushing. "Uh, thanks. You were ...
you were great too."

"Oh, man, my clothes are a mess," Brian groaned.

"You want me to take you home so you can get something else? I'm afraid
my clothes won't fit you."

"Nah, we're late already. I'll just have to hope Creighen doesn't want
us to talk to anyone important today. Next time, I'll make sure to bring some
clean clothes with me."

//Next time?// Munch thought to himself. //Oh, shit. The kid thinks there's
going to be a next time?//

Brian caught the look on his partner's face. Sort of a "deer caught in
the headlights" look. "John? I told you last night I don't do
one-night stands. You knew that."

"Brian.." Munch started, then realized he didn't have any idea what
he wanted to say.

"Oh, man, I don't fucking BELIEVE you! You *knew* I don't do casual sex.
I *told* you right up front. How could you do what we just did and then expect
me to run along like a good little boy and never mention it again?"

"Brian, look at me. I'm on the wrong side of fifty. My track record does
not support long-term relationships. I've been divorced three times - the last
time before the ink was even dry on the marriage certificate! What do you expect
from me?"

John thought the kid was going to start to cry. "John - I love
you," Cassidy said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"You don't love me, Bri. Maybe you have some sort of hero worship thing
going on. We're friends, partners, and we had great sex. That doesn't add up to
love."

"I love you," Brian said again, more firmly this time.

"Brian, I don't love you," Munch replied.

Brian finished dressing without another word. "I'll wait for you at the
car," he finally said, leaving the apartment and slamming the door behind
him.

The ride to work took place in complete silence. When John stopped the car,
Brian was out of the door almost before he had turned off the ignition. Munch
sighed. This was going to be a hell of a day.

Creighen saw Brian Cassidy storm in to the squadroom, followed by his
partner. Cassidy looked angry, but he also looked as if he were trying not to
burst in to tears at any moment. Munch was obviously trying to avoid him, which
was kind of hard to do since they worked side by side. Brian's clothes looked as
if they'd been slept in. It was hard not to draw certain conclusions - the two
men were both late, and both arrived at the same time. They were not getting
along. Cassidy wore the same clothes he'd worn yesterday.

Munch tried to concentrate on his paperwork. He had hoped that now he had
actually slept with Brian, he could get all the thoughts that had been
distracting him from his work out of his head. Unfortunately, the opposite
seemed to be true. He kept thinking of Brian's body stretched out beneath him in
bed ... Brian's head as he moved down to take John's cock in his mouth ... the
sounds Brian made as he came in his partner's arms. Shit. At this rate, his
trousers weren't going to fit very well. He tried thinking of his ex-wives.
There, that was better.

When Brian got up to retrieve something from his locker, he found himself
face to face with Olivia Benson. "Are you okay, Brian?" she asked.

Cassidy laughed humorlessly. "What do you care?" he asked. "I
seem to recall that you decided you didn't want to be part of my life."

Olivia put a hand on his arm. "Just because I don't want to date you
doesn't mean I don't care about you, Brian. I'm your friend."

"Actually, just don't sleep with anyone you work with. Not me, or
Elliot, or Monique ... and especially not Munch."

Olivia pushed thoughts of the attractive Detective Monique Jeffries out of
her head and turned back to Cassidy. "Brian - did you sleep with
John?"

"No, Olivia, I didn't *sleep* with John. I *fucked* John. And after I
fucked him, he fucked me over. Sorta like you did, Liv. 'Oh, the sex was great
but I don't want to see you again. But we can still be friends and still work
together like nothing ever happened.' "

Olivia frowned. "I'm sorry that happened to you again, Brian. Maybe cops
just shouldn't have affairs with other cops."

"But who can understand what a cop goes through every day on the job
better than another cop? I don't think this has anything to do with John being a
cop. I think he's just a coward. He had sex with another man and it freaked him
out."

Munch looked up and saw Brian with Olivia. She was patting him on the
shoulder. //Great// thought Munch. //He sleeps with me, then he flirts with
Benson. So much for 'no casual sex.'//

"Munch! Cassidy!" the Captain called across the squad room. The two
detectives looked up.

"Suspect in the Simpson case has been spotted in an apartment on
Thirty-third. Go get him and bring him in," Creighen ordered. The two
detectives complied wordlessly.

In spite of their differences, Munch and Cassidy did work well together. In
no time at all they had found their suspect and were knocking on the door of his
apartment. "Police! Open up!" Munch yelled. Of course, there was no
answer.

Munch stepped back and kicked the door open. He and Cassidy entered the
apartment, guns drawn. John thought he saw a movement out of the corner of his
eye and he turned toward it. Suddenly the suspect was directly in front of him,
gun pointed squarely at the middle of his chest. "Put your gun down,
cop," said the man.

What happened next was so fast Munch wasn't certain exactly what took place.
Munch started to lower his gun. The suspect fired. Cassidy jumped in front of
Munch and took the bullet. John lifted his gun and fired two shots directly in
to the perp. When the smoke cleared, the gunman was dead, and Brian was lying
bleeding on the floor. Munch grabbed his cell phone and called an ambulance,
then turned to his partner. Trying to stop his hands from trembling, he removed
his jacket, folded it and placed it under the younger man's head. "You'll
be okay, kid. I called for a bus. You'll be okay. Just hang on, all right?"
Inwardly, he was cursing himself. He should have seen the man coming. That
bullet was meant for him. Brian had saved his life. Not only that, Brian had
saved his life at the risk of his own. The kid really must love him.

"John, I did it because I love you. I told you this morning that I love
you. You didn't believe me, but it's true."

"Well, I believe you now, but you didn't have to go to such extremes to
prove it," snarled Munch.

Brian tried to shrug, but the pain in his shoulder stopped him.
"Whatever works," he said.

"Brian?"

"Yeah, John?"

"I love you." It was true. He did love his partner. He'd tried to
deny it, and he'd flat-out lied to the kid earlier and said he didn't. But he
did.

"Really?" asked Cassidy.

"Yeah. Really"

Brian closed his eyes. "Good," he said. Then he was unconscious
again.

An ambulance arrived to take Cassidy to the hospital and another to transport
the suspect's body to the morgue. A shooting team arrived to question Munch and
view the crime scene. It was some time before John was able to get to the
hospital to see his partner. Creighen was just coming out of Cassidy's room when
he arrived.

"Captain," said Munch. "How's the kid?"

"He'll be okay. John, I understand he took a bullet for you."

"Yeah, he did. Crazy kid."

The Captain looked Munch up and down. "I don't know what he sees in you,
John. I really don't." With that, Creighen left, and Munch stood staring
after him with his mouth open. "He knows?" John asked the empty
hallway.

Brian looked up and smiled when his partner entered the room. John leaned
down and kissed him. "How you feeling, Bri?"

"Better now that you're here," answered Cassidy.

"Brian, please don't do anything like that again."

"Like what?" Brian asked in confusion.

"Like putting yourself in the line of fire to protect my ass,"
replied Munch.

"I like your ass," answered his partner. "John, I did that
because I love you. I said it before and I'll say it again. I love you, and I
would take another bullet for you in a heartbeat."

Munch sighed. "I love you too, Bri. This is just going to take some
getting used to, okay? Me and you being - together."